New Work 2010

Hi Everyone,

Closing out 2010 with some new work I want to share with you.  I have sent four new works to the Julie Nester Gallery in Park City.  Two of the paintings shown here are 60x60 and reflect movement toward a slightly lighter pallet.  Additionally, I have been increasingly aware of color as a factor in my compositions and how squeezing value can help create mood and distance.

The dynamics of color use can be a daunting experience at times.  For this reason I have scaled back my range of colors at different times to see what I can glean from the a limited pallet.  After doing this for awhile I may find that the incremental introduction of new hues creates  and alters the range of color relationships for the entire work, thereby adding more atmosphere and or brilliance.

I had the good fortune recently to view a number of works by Seurat at the DeYoung museum in San Francisco.   This was part of a larger show of impressionist and post impressionist work currently on display at the museum.  While Seurat's paintings demonstrate a deep analytical understanding of color and hue relationships,  it is his conte or charcoal renderings on paper that present a masterful view of value and modulation of value  to the viewer.  In my painting entitled "Beyond the Margins"  I have explored a more subtle ;use of value and tone to create mood, atmosphere and distance.  The same study was explored in the painting "Near the Estero"  (seen below)

Lisa Harris Gallery Exhibition

In September  my work was part of a two person exhibit at the Lisa Harris Gallery in Seattle.  I have worked with Lisa for ten years and she presents my work well.   For this show I did twelve new paintings. The work  represented a slight shift in terms of color use and motif.  For several years my work has focused on wetlands and intimate settings in nature.  In the paintings, seen below, I have shifted to a larger more panoramic view.  "Above the Valley" puts the viewer in an elevated position and suggests a strong light moving across the picture plane.  The brush handling  moves up the picture plane starting with a more naturalistic rendering technique in the lower third and culminating at the top of the canvas with a loose burst of light, the brush strokes in the upper third, revealing process, paint handling and a flattening of space, as opposed to image making. This in turn presents the viewer with different levels of focus and a juxtaposition of visual language.

Bolinas Mini Show 2010

Opening on November  20th and running through to the New Year, the Bolinas Museum's mini show has become a must see.  This venue in west Marin has been an annual favorite for over twenty years.  The show features the work of several local artists.   Each work is no larger than 6x6 inches.  This year I submitted  two small paintings.  One was a study for a larger painting and the other was a new motif featuring the ever present distant hills in the area.